Lakeland students visit Kazakhstan
Two second-year animal science students and one faculty member from Lakeland College’s Vermilion campus recently returned from an Oct. 20-30 trip to Kazakhstan as part of the Alberta delegation.
To apply, students had to write an essay about what the experience would provide to them personally and professionally and explain what they would bring back to Lakeland.
The delegation also included representatives from the provincial government, cattle breed associations and livestock exporters.
Kazakhstan wants to develop its beef industry and with a climate and landscape similar to Alberta’s, the Kazakhstan government turned to the Alberta and Canadian governments for assistance in developing its industry a few years ago.
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It’s the third time since 2013 that Lakeland has been part of a delegation that travelled to the country.
Other members of the delegation focused on topics such as exporting cattle genetics and creating import protocols, but Lakeland’s role is to provide leadership on developing agriculture curriculum and possibly a farm school with various partners in the industry.
During meetings in Kazakhstan, the students provided their insight on being a Lakeland student and the benefits of the learning model provided through the college’s Student-Managed Farm–Powered by New Holland.
The Alberta delegation visited two ranches, including Dinara Ranch, which has a 4,000 head feedlot, 3,800 Herefords, grain, oilseeds, rice, vegetables, dairy and sheep
Jan Slomp remains head of NFU
Jan Slomp of Courtenay, B.C., was re-elected president of the National Farmers Union at its national convention held in Saskatoon Nov. 24-26.
Coral Sproule of Perth, Ont., was acclaimed as women’s president, and Ayla Fenton of Kingston, Ont., was acclaimed as youth president.
As well, Lydia Carpenter of Dunrea, Man., was elected first vice-president for policy, Cam Goff of Hanley, Sask., was acclaimed second vice-president for operations, Katie Ward of Woodlawn, Ont., was elected women’s vice-president and Dana Penrice of Lacombe, Alta., was elected youth vice-president.
Angus association starts video broadcast
The Canadian Angus Association has enhanced its communication platform to include the association’s news as a video broadcast called AC-TV.
AC-TV stands for Angus Central Television and is broadcast monthly and put on DVDs three times a the year.
Each episode features a variety of news stories, such as chief executive officer and president reports, industry stories and award winners for the year.
Seeder maker gets funding
Clean Seed Agricultural Technologies Ltd. has received $425,000 from the federal government to help develop a new no-till seeding system, the CX-6 SMART Seeder.
The funding is designed to enable Clean Seed Agricultural Technologies Ltd. to use its patented technology to enhance application control, reduce the over-application of fertilizer and pesticides and lower fuel use and input costs.
The company is based in Burnaby, B.C., but testing is planned for Saskatchewan and the equipment is expected to be manufactured in Manitoba.
The federal contribution will be matched by Clean Seed Agricultural Technologies.
This investment is one of several successful projects to be announced under the Western Innovation Initiative.
The program provides $100 million in repayable contributions to small- and medium-sized companies in Western Canada for activities that move ideas to market more quickly.
